Slooom’s Video Premiere

Delwin Campbell and Lauren Bruno during the filming of “Honey” (by Ryan Orenstein)

Their tailor-made moniker, an elongated tweak on the ancient word “sloom” – to slumber or doze – aptly decribes the sound of Austin’s newest ambient pop duo. Slooom evokes the dream state: musically atmospheric, conceptually abstract, and tranquil in effect.

The creative merger of vocalist Lauren Bruno, pixieish leader of creatively unbridled chamber folk ensemble Les Rav, and producer Delwin Campbell, beatmaker behind the glitchy electronic funk of Capyac, takes shape in their first public effort, an artsy orgy of sticky nectars and simmering violence. Bruno, Campbell, and clip director Ryan Orenstein discussed the band and its debut video, “Honey.”

Austin Chronicle: How did Slooom come to exist?

Delwin Campbell: We got drunk one night in early January and booked a show. Then we said, “Shit, we gotta write some songs.”

Lauren Bruno: We’d been wanting to collaborate musically, but it just wasn’t happening. Then one night we were hanging at Chicon Collective, where we work, and my boss said, “I’m going to book a show, you have to come up with a name and some songs.” I think that pressure helped. Two days before the show, we wrote “Honey” in two minutes. It was a freak thing.

AC: What’s the musical identity of Slooom?

DC: It’s a ghost trying to turn back into a real person. It’s wispy and undefined, but there’s potential. Previously, we both had very concrete projects. I’m in an electronic project called Capyac and Lauren has Les Rav. This is our music coming together.

AC: Give us a frame of reference.

DC: The other electronic music I’d been producing for so long was happy, soulful, disco-type funk, and this was an outlet for the other side. In terms of the beats, it’s dark, grimy, and dirty. Burial from London comes to mind.

LB: Phantogram is an influence too.

AC: The video for “Honey” has a lot intimate and sexual content. What inspired that?

Ryan Orenstein: It all came from the track. The first time I heard the track, I’m hearing the crackling of fire and I’m thinking passion. The whole song just sounded like that anticipation right before sex. I also heard the buzzing of bees, so I wanted to bring sex and violence into this video around honey – which has always been positive.

Honey often represents sweetness and life, but in the news you’re always reading, “The bees are going away and we’re going to fucking die.” If you look at it differently, honey can be a symbol of our impending doom, so I wanted to make a video about the destruction of mind, body, soul, and the environment.

AC: What’s next for Slooom?

LB: We want Slooom to be more than just a band. We’ve both been in a lot of bands and we want to do this different. I’m set on releasing all of our content through video and this is part one of three. We’re not looking to do live performances right away. We may do special art installations to where we perform in a creative way.

AC: What’s the status of Les Rav?

LB: Les Rav will always be a part of me and I’ll never say no to playing, but with this project and whatever projects I do from now on, I want it to be more electronics-based. It’s so much easier to work with producers that can do anything rather than getting eight people to create something. This is the path I want to take with my music.